Mother Slams Health Authorities' Handling of Measles Cases

*Mother Slams Health Authorities' Handling of Measles Cases*

The mother of a healthy child who was banned from attending Oratia school from June 3 until June 16, says the way the school and health authorities handled the situation was "insensitive and inconsistent".

The mother of three, who also has a demanding professional job, said having to make alternative childcare arrangements for her healthy daughter after she was informed her daughter could not attend school as she had had only one shot of MMR vaccine (rather than the two shots the Ministry of Health recommends) "was stressful, expensive, and completely unnecessary".

"I am really angry about the way the school and the authorities handled the cases of measles at the school," Jennie said. "The children who were banned were simply sent home with notices in the bags after school on June 2. There was no attempt to contact parents personally and explain the situation. When I rang the 0800 number on one of the notices my daughter was given I was told that my daughter could return to school the next day if she had a second MMR shot -- even though she could be already incubating the measles and might be infectious."

Jennie declined a second MMR shot for her daughter as she had become concerned about the risks and side-effects of the vaccination, particularly since another of her children had developed autistic symptoms. Consequently she and her husband had decided against any further MMR vaccinations for any of their children.

As the days went by and her daughter showed no signs of developing the measles, Jennie began to wonder whether this might be because the single MMR vaccine her daughter had been given meant that she was immune to the measles. "It wasn't until I discovered the site www.noforcedvaccines.org and contacted the coordinator by email that I learned that over 90% of children who have had a single MMR vaccination do develop sufficient antibodies to measles that they are almost certain to be immune to the disease -- and that a blood test could determine whether or not my daughter was likely to be immune."

Jennie then arranged for a blood test for her daughter, who, by this time, had already missed eight days of school. The test results took another couple of days but when they arrived on the evening of June 16, showed that her daughter had an antibody level considered consistent with immunity to measles -- and could consequently return to school.

While it was a relief to find out that her daughter could now return to school and could not be excluded again, the whole experience has left a sour taste in Jennie's mouth.

"The way the whole thing was handled was just wrong," Jennie says. "If I had been told that a blood test to test my daughter's immunity was an option when I called the 0800 number, and the test arranged the next day, she could have been back at school as soon as the test results were available. But instead I had to take time off work, pay for a doctor's appointment at an after hours clinic and be generally stressed out and massively inconvenienced."

She continues:

"It beats me why the authorities would recommend that I give my daughter an unnecessary second MMR vaccination, risking all the possible side-effects that come with it, and at a time when she could already be quite sick, rather than suggesting I get a simple blood test to confirm whether she actually needs the injection. This whole experience seems to have been less about caring for the health of the children and preventing the spread of the disease, and more about pressuring parents to give children the second MMR injection whether they need it or not. It is hardly surprising that parents feel increasingly like we have to question the advice we get from our doctors, or to seek further advice."

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